Salmonella: Policing the Produce Industry

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FOOD SAFETY

Salmonella: Policing the Produce Industry

By Michael R. Machi
July 8, 2008

Is agricultural runoff behind the latest Salmonella outbreak and just what is agricultural runoff?

Agricultural runoff is surface water leaving farm fields because of precipitation and irrigation.

I pose the question in light of the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations recent report the common antibiotic cephalosporin has been misused in animals.

"It is likely the extra label use of cephalosporin in food-producing animals is contributing to the emergence of cephalosporin-resistant food borne bacteria. Therefore, the FDA has determined that such extra label use likely will cause an adverse event and, as such, presents a risk to the public health", the FDA said.


Widespread treatment of animals with the same drugs increases the risk that food-borne bacteria, among them salmonella and E. coli, will develop resistance.

If these drug-resistant bacterial strains infect humans, it is likely that cephalosporin's will no longer be effective for treating disease in those people," the FDA said.

Adverse events and potential risks to public health have reached alarming levels when it comes to Food Safety.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Consumer Federation of America is calling for Effective traceability labeling for Fresh Produce in a recent letter from the CFA and CSPI to the FDA.

CSPI food safety director Caroline Smith DeWaal sends this message: "Unfortunately, as this investigation has dragged on, the produce industry is reaping what it sowed when it sought and received special exemptions that allowed industry to avoid the country of origin labeling requirements Congress passed in 2002.

I could not agree more on the simplistic idea of labeling fresh produce. Imagine walking into your local grocer, passing through the produce department littered with point of origin labels (like everything else in the store?), RFID tracking labels, (Privacy-enabled) and copies of clearly displayed, pathogen free FDA/USDA inspection reports.

Finally our fresh produce is safe to eat and need not worry about various incubation periods, if we become ill within a few days, the traceability system is in place.

OK so, I thought living in a perfect world free of maximizing corporate profits and minimizing loss was possible for the moment, but it's not, especially in the economically sensitive environment we live in today.

Consider this.

The last tractor trailer truck of Fresh Produce I loaded back in 2000 out of California going to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania cost about $2900. Today that same freight rate to the East coast can fetch up to $9000.

Considering the majority of lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, celery, salad greens, vegetable mixes, parsley, sprouts, apples, citrus, grapes, melons, peaches, nectarines, apricots, pears, plums and strawberries are grown in the Western US, the pressure to minimize shrink and maximize profit is at an all time high. Shrink is a term associated with fresh food commodity loss.

Growers are reluctant to ship produce long distances. Always in fear of receivers having their produce inspected and failing USDA grading standards after days of transportation, returns to the grower have to be at an all time low. Some growers have periods where they have an abundance of product in the fields so they have no choice other than to ship it.

The difference today with higher fuel costs is that a consigned load of, say for instance, naked head lettuce with 1000 cartons of product can cost up to $9.00 a carton for freight alone. If it takes a month to sell it all in its entirety, consider a majority of the sales to be less than $5.00 per carton and that's before the receiver calls for a probable USDA dump slip for the few remaining unsold cartons. If the receiver has other loads of lettuce in house that are at a firm contracted price, which load do you think the salesman sell first?

Any left over proceeds from sales, minus the usual15% commission the receiver collects and other expenses are then returned to the grower.

The industry overall is taking a beating. The FDA is now taking a hard look at onions, cilantro and peppers in addition to tomatoes in its hunt for findings with the current Salmonella outbreak. Old school methods must change in order to protect the food supply and we as consumers cannot depend on an industry so out of control to police itself. The latest lingering Salmonella outbreak brought to light just how broken things are. This one shall not soon pass.


About the Author

Michael R. Machi is a former Vice President for Consumers Produce in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, a major produce terminal business on the East Coast. His primary responsibility in addition to VP of Business Analyst was purchasing millions of dollars in California vegetables, including Mexico.


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